Tag Archives: digital native

Click on the image to go to the website and explore cyber smart initiatives

The primary school, where I currently work, is in the midst of investigating safe social networking sites for children. There is an acceptance that children are connected to technology on a daily basis, using it for educational and recreational purposes and in support of global citizenship. As a consequence, cyber safety is a significant focus. Currently, our students participate in many online environments including blogs, and posting to Vimeo.

The release of national statistics in 2012 by the minister for education, Peter Garrett point to disturbing figures of the prevalence of cyber bullying in his Be Bold Stop Bullying Facebook Campaign Launch. This is a major concern for the school community highlighting the need for constant revision of cyber safety practices. This has contributed to a greater focus by the school in assessing our current efforts and discovering where we can improve.

As part of this school-wide initiative, I investigated library based initiatives in support of schools’ efforts to promote cyber safety. I discovered the 13 project via a thread on the OZTLnet list serve and then investigated further. 13 Project was launched on 1st March 2013 by school library associations across Australia in recognition of the important role of school libraries and participation of school library staff in schools’ efforts to help keep their students safe online.

As a librarian, in a school based environment, being able to locate resources and provide access to these resources is of primary importance. This professional learning activity enabled a connection with the information needs of the school community and the library in resourcing those needs. Via the 13 project, some of the resources mentioned were areas our school identified for investigation, namely social networking sites that are safe environments for children in this age group. I evaluated the suggested social networking site Skooville. After the initial evaluation I shared the online resources from 13 project with teachers in our school and provided a recommendation of the Skooville program to be considered for implementation across the school. I attended the morning briefing during Cyber safety week and discussed this resource with staff thus saving them time in investigation of this important area.

Discovering a national library-based advocacy initiative, with a focus on cyber safety, was the most significant learning from this activity. With the networks to library professionals accessed via OZTLnet I can transfer the learning and extend the library into the school. This affirms the importance of the library for school based initiatives with a focus on curriculum and community needs. One of the tools particularly useful to school administration is the Safe Schools toolkit as it provides an online audit tool to help with school prioritisation in this area. This information was shared with the leading teachers.

At this stage, I can see there is more that can be done by the library and staff in this area. Prior to this, our library had no knowledge of 13 project and the Skooville site. This activity has enabled the beginning of this knowledge and connecting with the wider school as a result.

The next step in this professional learning will be to involve the school in some of the other suggested initiatives as part of the National Cyber Security Awareness week. This will be explored for the next year.

Cybersafety is an ongoing learning curve needing constant evaluation and awareness raising. 13 project is a great starting place and resource.

It is nearly the end of the school year and I am still going in and checking the Oliver program transition. We can safely say that is is now live and Athena is no longer needed. When I went in last week I spoke with the IT technician about where the link to Oliver is on the system and how visible it is to the school community. Currently, you can access the library beyond the walls of the physical library. Great as this was one of the aims. However, the process is not too straightforward as you need to bring up ‘programs’ and find the link to the OPAC to go into the library management system. Too cumbersome for our current ‘information now’ clientele!

I suggested placing a library icon as the link on the front page of the school website. This will increase accessibility and enable students, parents and teachers to be able to logon from their homes. Being able to ‘see’ the library link on the front page is what we all want after all. This is now on the list and I was informed it is not difficult to achieve. Fantastic!

Through this journey, I have mentioned often that there is no dedicated teacher/librarian at the school and it is an area I have been advocating for incessantly during my time there. The new system has a fantastic and simple newsletter template that only needs an update monthly. It provides links to new items in the library, information about the library, links to websites and featured authors for the month. With the featured author, it provides a wonderful avenue where students can email suggestions for authors thereby increasing student participation. Hopefully this can open up more avenues for student contributions including student publications online. However, unless there is a dedicated teacher that will focus on the library much of this wonderful potential will be difficult to realise. I continued with my constant advocacy in this area and yesterday, Mary informed me that Bec may be provided some allocated time next year to focus on the library. She will be responsible for updating the newsletter and will run PD with the staff about the new system and the importance of the library. Fantastic! Bec has come on board this term and spent a great deal of time familiarising herself with the new system, looking into electronic resources and reading up on all things library. There is still a long way to travel but every step counts in cementing the importance of the library and extending this beyond the library walls and into the school community.

As for the new library management system, Oliver, the interface is fantastic and a perfect choice for a primary school, especially when you click on Olly and access the visual search. Even searching a subject, the box where you type your word is quite large making it easy for little kids to read. None of the other programs researched had such a fantastic interface with this level of accessibility for very young children.

Currently, the library is shut down for lending and only open for returns. This has been instigated to enable the smooth transition and ensure any difficulties are fixed before the next academic year. It will further enable training in the new system for staff. Only last week I was working through part of the training module with Mary and we identified that a key component linking to Word has not been downloaded and set up yet. This enables the printing of labels, letters and reports. Very vital!… This has been forwarded to the IT department and hopefully the situation has been sorted. I am going back in later this week for a final check and hopefully this is the finale in transforming to a Library 2.0.

Currently I am studying The Information Society and our first task is focussed on defining the key elements of what an information society is. So what is the information age, network society, the digital age, knowldedge society or any other terms that we often use interchangeably to define this period?

I came across the following documentary that is a digital mashup courtesy of amipress. I highly recommend viewing this… It is a pretty good start in considering many of the concepts before us.

I just generated my first QR Code and there it is above. If you have a smartphone and have the app QRReader, you can scan the image above and it will take you…. well it will bring you back to here, my blog, as the link for this QR Code is my blog URL.

The possibilites are endless and you can generate Code after Code. The codes can be generated as links to URL’s, links to text, links to phone numbers and links to SMS.

I can see the possibilities for library services as it costs nothing to create the QRCodes. You can read the following post, QR Codes at Miami University Library as an example of how one library is utilising QR Codes to enhance service provision.

Why not write a haiku, then generate a QR Code linked to text (with the text being the Haiku), print the code onto stickers and post them around town. You can self publish via QR Codes and share your creativity… just a thought.

Imagine them around the Library. For instance at the entry a QR Code linked to the image of a floorplan of where everything is located in the library. QR Codes in the Magazine and News reading area providing links to online magazines, journals or news. QR Codes placed around town with links to events at the library. QR codes providing information on ‘how to…” services of the library… I could go on but as you can gather the application is only limited by the imagination.

There have been innovative application in the form of scavenger hunts by Libraries and I would love to investigate what other possibilities are out there.

Another exciting journey is about to begin as the decision on a Library Management System has been finalised and it is Oliver Junior, (for the various reasons outlined in the earlier posts).

Next week, Oliver Junior will be installed remotely to the network. Then the process of transferring from Athena to Oliver will take approximately a term to complete this transformation.

In the meantime, we are embroiled with the other logistics. For instance do we already have z-cataloging with SCIS and do we want the Syndetics module included.

Mary was a little concerned about the jargon, however after a couple of phonecalls to SCIS and Oliver support, we discovered yes we do have the z-cataloging and now have been enabled by SCIS for integration via Oliver. I understand there are a few more configuration details and hopefully Oliver support can help with the troubleshooting when the time comes to set it all up. Here are the SCIS Standards for Cataloguing and Data Entry.

Oliver’s support end calls the integration Z-39.50. In my speak, all this means is that you can search the bibliographic details via Oliver without needing to go to SCIS and import the MARC records directly. As a result, a more streamlined and efficient approach.

As for Syndetics, confusion set in as SCIS offers a module and we are not subscribed to this. When I spoke to SCIS, I discovered that this module does not integrate with Library Management Systems and was informed that Oliver has their own Syndetic module that can be integrated. Did we need this? was the question all were asking.

After looking up the benefit of Syndetics it is clear that it would enhance the system significantly. Not only does it allow the importation of book covers, but also other relevant information such as awards and author information. Clearly, this provides a better experience for the students and teachers. As a result, we chose to add this module via Oliver.

Where to now? Installation is next week and we are keying in some training sessions. It is starting to feel exciting but the road is still a way off and not too clear just yet… Mary has some trepidations at present but the playing is about to begin!

As a devoted Mac user, I just accepted the Safari web browser that is standard and happily browsed the internet with this.

Safari cc licensed and shared by aditza 121

There was much I loved about the user interface, including the graphic interface where sites can be bookmarked in topsites and you can click on them to be taken to the website. I loved the visual history you can flick through. However, I was stuck in Mac-land with my rosy Mac glasses and didn’t venture beyond this space. I even secretly enjoyed the Mac vs PC ads and couldn’t help but share 15 of them in the clip that follows.

I relished the Mac comeback since the introduction of the iMac G3 so many years ago (1998). I loved calling them the jellymacs at the time because of the translucent look and the many bright colours you can choose from…

iMac G3 cc licensed and shared by Tiziano Gaviglia

Here is the video clip when the iMac was first introduced by Steve Jobs

Yes! I definitely recall the excitement back then and have never looked back.

Back to browsers. As I said I didn’t question the use of Safari. That is until this year…

Once I started my studies this year, I realised Safari had limitations so I downloaded and installed Firefox. I was pleasantly surprised that it appeared faster and more stable. I appreciate the tabs across the top and find navigation easy with add-ons enhancing Firefox. For instance Zotero is a great enhancement and time saver with citations and reference lists. Again I was sold.

Fifefox 3 cc licensed and shared by Hooverdust

But then I found out about Google Chrome…. so the urge for experimentation began yet again. This time the visual appeal was instant. I was excited about the address bar doubling up as a search bar. More time saving features to love (although, this is possible with Firefox I have since discovered). As another member in our household has an iPad, chrome as a browser seemed to imitate the iPad app features and initially this seemed exciting. Although, I do concede now that maybe it is a bit too gimicky for me….

Logo Google Chrome cc licensed and shared by Dekuwa

Google Chrome has proven a very effective web browser for my parents who have a limited background in computer use. Setting it up for them with their favourite sites bookmarked has enabled them to participate very easily. I definitely see this as an advantage for them.

After my initial experimentation with Google Chrome, I started wanting to add more search engines as I wanted choice and found Google chrome restrictive in this way. Maybe the link to Google as a corporate entity contributes to this restriction due to the desire to dominate the market. I went back to Firefox add-ons and tested the ability to add extra search engines and realised it was a great deal easier than chrome. Hence my choice in searching is enhanced… back to Firefox I went!

I couldn’t help but spend some some time this weekend playing around with the Opera web browser and setting it up. This is definitely the browser for me providing the greatest flexibility in browsing not to mention speed (we all love our information to arrive as quick as possible after all). I am still experimenting with the various Opera add-ons and the extensions including the various widgets I have already installed. Already, I found many features I love. As a browser web accessibility has been paid the best attention to, of all the browsers I have experimented with and this is part of the reason I love it so much. I also love the Opera Portal and how easy it is to place my RSS feeds in one spot where I can visit with a click from my Speed dial which is similar to topsites from Safari but better. I really need to have a good look at the browser tips to really get a feel for the capabilities when time permits.

It is worth having a test of the different browsers and finding what works for you. It can be a very individual preference after all.

Following is a video about Opera Software the history. The final video is the browser showdown. Who wins?

Even though, I am meant to be focused on my next assignment, writing three critical reviews, there is nothing like a little diversion to clear the mind. Now to put on some Opera and back to my study…